SURVEY: 86% Of Houston Teens Plan To Work This Summer-47 Percent Are Very Confident They Will Find Jobs Despite NATIONAL DOUBLE-Digit Teen Unemployment RATE

HOUSTON, May 22, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Junior Achievement USA's 2013 Teens and Summer Jobs survey reveals a teen population confident in its ability to find summer work, despite a 24-percent unemployment rate. The national survey of 14-18 year olds shows that nearly two-thirds (63 percent) plan to get a job this summer, and of those, 92 percent are "very" or "somewhat" confident they will find seasonal work. Yet only 38 percent of teens surveyed said they had a summer job in the past. In a similar survey conducted among Houston area teens, 47% were very confident they would find summer employment, and 36% had had a summer job in the past.

When asked how they planned to find summer jobs, Houston area teens' top three methods of finding work were networking through their parents' connections (49 percent), using online job postings (43 percent), and looking in store windows for "now hiring" signs (38 percent).

Nationally, three-quarters (72 percent) of those teens who plan to work this summer said they anticipate earning between $7.25 and $10 per hour. This compares to 27% of Houston teens who said they planned to earn between $7.25 and $10 an hour.

However, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, among employed teenagers paid by the hour, more than one-in-five (21 percent) earned the minimum wage or less in 2012, compared with about 3 percent of workers age 25 and over.

Rick Franke, Junior Achievement of Southeast Texas President, said, "We applaud teens for seeking summer jobs to increase work experience and earn extra spending money. However, we hope teens who can't find jobs this summer due to a still-challenging job market do not become too discouraged. There are still ways to earn valuable experience through volunteering or by creating your own opportunities by starting a business, such as a lawn mowing service or house sitting service."

Seasonal work can provide young people with important work-readiness and interpersonal skills that will help them to succeed in their careers. Overwhelmingly, teens who planned to get summer jobs said that they viewed gaining real-life work experience (79 percent) as the top benefit of summer employment other than salary. Yet only 5 percent of respondents planning to work this summer said they planned to seek an internship in a field of interest to them.